The Truth behind Fairy Tales
Fairy tales were designed to draw us out of our everyday lives into magical lands filled with possibilities that excite and expand the imagination. These fictional stories come from all cultures, and many of them have their own versions. Fairy tales were originally told for children, but often they seem to have been used to teach a valuable lesson to everyone. For example, the classic tale of “Cinderella” was told to teach that people should always fight for what they want with a good heart and hard work. After being oppressed by her evil stepmother and stepsisters, Cinderella was soon saved by her prince and all was well in the land. In Anne Sexton’s poem “Cinderella” and Margaret Atwood’s short story “There was …show more content…
Female roles in fairy tales can be described as perfect in every way. She is beautiful, kind, and helpful. She is glorified as good and pure. She is also helpless, naive and lacks any sort of intelligence. Fairy tales don’t always high light the good characteristics in women and this can be problem for society. They give unrealistic expectations of how the “princess” should look, act, and talk. This leads women to believe that if they don’t fit the cookie- cutter outline of a fairytale princess, then they aren’t deserving of a prince and a happy ending. Though fairy tales may not affect someone’s perception of women and gender roles to a huge extinct, this still may create an impact on how women are viewed. Atwood’s character “the listener” encourages the story teller to escape the traditional ideas of the perfect girl in fairy tales and to dwell on the sensible characteristics of women. “Skip the description. Description oppresses. But you can say what color she was” (2). It is important that the listener points out the false descriptions of women for the story teller and the readers of Atwood’s work. Sextons interprets the female role a bit different than Atwood. She mentions the actual role of Cinderella, while Atwood’s character is still trying to figure it out. Sexton indicates the role of Cinderella as a maid who cleans after her step mother and stepsisters and lives an awful life. It is expected to believe that women always clean and cook for their families. Sexton points out this gender stereotypical role that is seen in many fairy tales. Cinderella’s tall, dark and handsome prince eventually, comes to save her and carries her away on his high horse. In these type of fairy tales while women are to do domestic task, men are often viewed as heroic, strong, masculine heroes who saves the girl. this view on
Fairy tales were designed to draw us out of our everyday lives into magical lands filled with possibilities that excite and expand the imagination. These fictional stories come from all cultures, and many of them have their own versions. Fairy tales were originally told for children, but often they seem to have been used to teach a valuable lesson to everyone. For example, the classic tale of “Cinderella” was told to teach that people should always fight for what they want with a good heart and hard work. After being oppressed by her evil stepmother and stepsisters, Cinderella was soon saved by her prince and all was well in the land. In Anne Sexton’s poem “Cinderella” and Margaret Atwood’s short story “There was …show more content…
Female roles in fairy tales can be described as perfect in every way. She is beautiful, kind, and helpful. She is glorified as good and pure. She is also helpless, naive and lacks any sort of intelligence. Fairy tales don’t always high light the good characteristics in women and this can be problem for society. They give unrealistic expectations of how the “princess” should look, act, and talk. This leads women to believe that if they don’t fit the cookie- cutter outline of a fairytale princess, then they aren’t deserving of a prince and a happy ending. Though fairy tales may not affect someone’s perception of women and gender roles to a huge extinct, this still may create an impact on how women are viewed. Atwood’s character “the listener” encourages the story teller to escape the traditional ideas of the perfect girl in fairy tales and to dwell on the sensible characteristics of women. “Skip the description. Description oppresses. But you can say what color she was” (2). It is important that the listener points out the false descriptions of women for the story teller and the readers of Atwood’s work. Sextons interprets the female role a bit different than Atwood. She mentions the actual role of Cinderella, while Atwood’s character is still trying to figure it out. Sexton indicates the role of Cinderella as a maid who cleans after her step mother and stepsisters and lives an awful life. It is expected to believe that women always clean and cook for their families. Sexton points out this gender stereotypical role that is seen in many fairy tales. Cinderella’s tall, dark and handsome prince eventually, comes to save her and carries her away on his high horse. In these type of fairy tales while women are to do domestic task, men are often viewed as heroic, strong, masculine heroes who saves the girl. this view on